Ribbon-inking method

ABSTRACT

A USED PREVIOUSLY INKED RIBBON FOR WHICH INK HAS BEEN REMOVED AS A RESULT OF USE CAN BE EFFECTIVELY REINKED SO AS TO BE CAPABLE OF REUSE BY APPLYING INK TO A SURFACE OF THE RIBBON FROM A ROLLER AND THEN BY SUBSEQUENTLY IRONING THE RIBBON. SUCH IRONING INVOLVES APPLYING HEAT TO THE RIBBON WHILE HOLDING THE RIBBON UNDER TENSION, PREFERABLY THE IRONING IS FOLLOWED BY COOLING THE RIBBON.

y 1973 F. R. ANDERSON 3,733,211

RIBBON- INKING METHOD Original Filed Oct. 27, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1wwewrozs FkAA/K R ANDERSON,

ALBERT .J. 645720 5y Eon/A20 D, OER/AM A77'0QA/5Y y 1973 F. R. ANDERSON3,733,211

RIBBON- INKIXG METHOD Original Filed Oct. 27, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.6.

. II o a? 411 0FF l HEATER J 64* OONTROL /52 1 //v:/ENT R5 ERA MKANDERSON,

ALBERT J CASTRO BY EOWARO D. OBR/AN ATTORNEY United States Patent3,733,211 RIBBON-INKING METHOD Frank R. Anderson and Albert J. Castro,Montebello,

Calif., assignors to Westates Space-Era Products, Inc.,

El Monte, Calif.

Original application Oct. 27, 1969, Ser. No. 869,461. Divided and thisapplication June 28, 1971, Ser. No. 157,769

Int. Cl. B2311 7/00 US. Cl. 117-2 R 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA used previously inked ribbon for which ink has been removed as aresult of use can be effectively reinked so as to be capable of reuse byapplying ink to a surface of the ribbon from a roller and then bysubsequently ironing the ribbon. Such ironing involves applying heat tothe ribbon while holding the ribbon under tension; preferably theironing is followed by cooling the ribbon.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is related tothe copending Frank R. Anderson and Albert J. Castro applicationentitled Ribbon Inking Machine Ser. No. 869,461 filed Oct. 27, 1969, nowabandoned, and claims subject matter subject to a restrictiverequirement in the copending application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Inked ribbons are commonly utilized inconnection with various types of computing, calculation, addressing andrelated machine in order to print different indicia such as numbers,names and the like. As such ribbons are used, the ink within thembecomes exhausted. Because of wear characteristics it is normallypreferred that such ribbons be formed of a thermoplastic material suchas nylon. As ribbons of such materials are used they tend to stretch inthe areas where they are contacted most frequently. Such stretching canlead to the ribbon having an undesired shape or configuration.

As a result of these and related problems it has been conventional todiscard ribbons of the type indicated after the ink supply within themhas been exhausted. This is considered to be economically undesirable.However, the industry has followed this procedure of replacing usedribbons rather than rejuvenating them because of a lack of asatisfactory procedure for restoring them substantially to their initialcondition.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION From this it will be seen that there is a needfor a satisfactory treatment of used inked ribbons so that such ribbonsmay be reused. An objective of this invention is to supply this need.Further objectives of the invention are to provide a new and improvedprocess for treating used ink ribbons so as to restore them tosubstantially their initial condition. Other objectives of thisinvention are to provide a process of the class described which isrelatively simple, which may be easily and conveniently carried out,which is effective for its intended purpose and which may be carried outin various difierent manners.

These objectives are achieved my first applying ink, such asconventional ink, to a surface ofa used, previously inked, ribbon andthen by ironing the inked ribbon and then finally by rewinding the inkedribbon on a core so that it may be further used. The process of theinvention contemplates further steps of a more detailed nature than canbe satisfactorily indicated in this brief summary of the principalfeatures of the invention.

3,733,211 Patented May 15, 1973 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFurther details of the invention as well as the manner in which theobjectives of the invention are achieved will be apparent from a carefulconsideration of the remainder of this specification and of theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side-elevational view of a presently preferred embodiment ofa ribbon-inking machine, for use in practicing the process of thisinvention, in a position in which this machine may be loaded with a usedribbon upon a core;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view corresponding to FIG. 1 showing themachine in a running position;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged top plan view of the machine shown in FIG. 1 inthe position in which it is shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken at line 44 of FIG. 3showing a part of the construction of the machine illustrated;

FIG. 5 is a further fragmentary cross-sectional view shown in sectionshowing a part of the construction of the machine illustrated. Thoseparts of this view shown in section are illustrated as they would appearif a sectional view was taken at line 5-5 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the electric circuit used in the machineshown.

It will be realized that the accompanying drawings are only intended toillustrate for explanatory purposes the construction of a machine foruse in practicing the process of this invention. Other differentlyappearing and somewhat differently constructed machines serving the samefunction as the illustrated machine for use in practicing the process ofthe invention may be easily designated on the basis of the disclosureembodied herein through the use or exercise of routine engineeringskill.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the drawing there is shown aribbon-inking machine 10 of this invention which has a base 12 holdingor in cluding two spaced, parallel sides 14. These sides 14 are formedso as to include parallel edges 16 located in the same plane above thebase 12. These sides 14 carry the pot bottom portions 17 of aconventional movable drawer slide, the inside portions 19 of which areattached to a movable feed carriage 18.

The sides 14 also include mounting brackets or standards 20 whichsupport a drum 22 having a metal surface. Conventional electric heatingelements 24 are held by the standards 20 so as to supply heat to theinterior of the drum 22 during its operation so that the drum 22 and theheating elements 24 together act as an ironing means.

In the particular machine 10 illustrated the drum 22 is rigidly mountedon the standards 20 so that it does not rotate during the operation ofthe machine. However, this drum 22 may be made so as to rotate, althoughthis is not preferred in accordance with the invention. When the drum 22is rigidly supported as shown it effectively places a drag upon a ribbonbeing treated by friction so as to facilitate obtaining satisfactoryresults with the machine. Also when the drum 22 is rigidly mounted asshown the expense of a structure rotatably supporting it can beeliminated.

Bearings 26 and 28 are mounted on the sides 14 adjacent to the drum 22for the purpose of carrying a cooling roller 30 and a take-up bar 32,respectively, so that the axis of this roller 30 and the bar 32 areparallel to the axis of the drum 22. The cooling roller 30- is hollowand includes hollow shafts 34 which projects through conventional rotaryseals 36 as shown. It will be noted that these shafts 34 are used inconnection with the bearing 26 for mounting purposes. These seals 36carry tubes 38 through which water or other cooling fluid may becirculated during the operation of machine 10. One of the shafts 34carries a conventional sprocket 40.

The take-up bar 32 is capable of fitting within and holding a core orspool for a ribbon so as to cause such a core or spool to rotate. It isdirectly connected to a bearing 28 by a shaft 42 carrying othersprockets 44. This shaft 42 includes a nonround socket 46 into which thebar 32 fits. The other end of this bar 32 is retained by means of aconventional plunger 48 mounted in the other of the bearings 28. Thisplunger 48 includes a socket end 50 which is adapted to engage andsupport an end of the bar 32. A conventional coil spring 52 is biasedbetween one of the sides 14 and the end 50 so that the plunger 48 willbe operative for its intended purpose. With this construction the bar 32may be replaced by pulling on the plunger 48.

One of the sides 14 also carries a conventional gear head motor 54 fromwhich there projects a shaft 56. This shaft 56 extends through a bearing58 mounted on this side 14 and carries another conventional sprocket 60.Roller chains 62 connect the sprocket 60 with one of the sprockets 44;another roll chain 64 connects the other sprocket 44 with the sprocket40. With this construction when the motor 54 is operating both thetake-up bar 32 and the cooling roller 30 is rotated. Both this roller 30and the bar 32 are rotated in the same direction; however, it will benoted that the sprocket 40 is larger than the sprockets 44. This willserve to rotate the periphery of the roller 30 at a different velocitythan the bar 32.

The carriage 18 includes interconnected side plates 66 carrying thedrawer slide portions 19 so that this carriage 18 may be moved to thepositions as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing. When this carriageis moved to the running position as shown in FIG. 2 a small retainingdog or pin 70 on one of the side plates 66 engages a conventionalholding detent 72 so as to lock the carriage 18 in a running position.This detent 72 is mounted upon one of the sides 14. The other of thesesides carries a small microswitch 74 which is adapted to be engaged by aprojection 76 on the other of the side plates 66 so as to be closed inthis running position.

The side plates 66 carry bearings 78 which rotatably support shafts 80of a composite ink feed roller 82. The construction of this roller 82will subsequently be described in more detail. The side plates 66 alsocarry other bearings 84 which rotatably support shafts 85 of a ribbonroller 86. This roller 86 preferably has a metal surface so as tofacilitate uniform transfer of ink to a ribbon. The two rollers 82 and86 are mounted in this manner so that their axes are always parallel tothe axes of the cooling roller 30 and the take-up bar 32. The rollers 82and 86 are further mounted sufficiently close to one another so as torotatably support between them an ink spreading roller 88. Thisspreading roller 88 is free floating on the two rollers 82 and 86;hence, it will roll during the operation of the machine in a reversedirection to the direction in which the rollers 82 and 86 rotate.

The shaft 80 carries a sprocket 90 which is connected by roller chain 92to another sprocket 94 mounted upon a short shaft '96. This shaft 96 iscarried by a bearing 84 on one of the side plates 66. This shaft 96carries a small hand wheel 100 which may be utilized to adjust theposition of the ink feed roller 88 when a machine is not being used soas to alleviate any loss of ink from this roller. This wheel 100 mayalso be turned so as to spread out and distribute ink prior to the useof the machine 10. The other of the shafts 80 carries a normally drivenspur gear 102.

The shaft 80 which carries the sprocket 90 is hollow and is connected toand forms a part of a hollow perforate tube 104 which extends completelyacross the interior of the ink feed roller 82. An end of this shaft 80is secured to a conventional rotary seal 106 similar to the seals 36previously described so that ink may be conveyed to the interior of thetube 104 from a conventional ink reservoir 108. In the embodiment of theinvention shown this reservoir 108 consists of an inverted containersuch as a jar connected directly to the tube 104 by a tube 109. Amounting bracket 112 upon one of the side plates 66 is used so as tosupport the container 110.

The roller 82 is constructed so as to utilize a secondary tube .114which is mounted on and spaced from the tube 104 so as to receive inkfrom the perforations in the tube 104. This tube 114 is also perforatedas shown and is used so as to distribute the ink received by it duringthe rotation of the entire roller 82 and the tube 104 to the interior ofa perforate cylinder 116. This cylinder 116 preferably supports andholds a somewhat resilent microporous cylindrical pad 118 of a knownpolymer composition. The pad 118 is of the general category used inconventional preinked type stamps which can be used to directly print animage without being separately inked each time used because of an inkstorage capacity within such a pad. The particular pad 118 is of such anature so as to have interconnecting cells so that ink can betransferred through it at what may be regarded as a controlled, meteredrate. The pad 118 can be made of any material which Will evenlydistribute and convey ink in substantially the same manner as thematerial described.

During the operation of machine 10 ink is conveyed from the reservoir.108 into the tube 104 and into the tube 114 and finally into theinterior of the cylinder 116 from the reservoir 108. The ink within theinterior of the cylinder 116 will move out through the pad 118 so as tobe transferred from it to the ink spreading roller 88. Preferably thisroller 88 has a known or conventional surface to which ink will readilyadhere. The ink on the roller 88 will be transferred to a significantdegree to the ribbon roller 86 from which it will be applied assubsequently described. The method of causing rotation of the ink feedroller 82 and the other rollers 86 and 88 will be more fully apparentfrom the subsequent discuss1on.

In any event as the ink is transferred some ink will fall off of the inkfed roller 82. Such ink will be received in a sloping drip pan 122located under the roller 88 and will flow to a sump 124. With thepresent invention ink accumulating in the sump 124 will be picked up bya spiral type of pump 126 carried by the tube 104 so as to be conveyedback into the interior of this tube.

This pump 126 includes side walls 128 of a disc-like shape between whichthere is an enclosed spiral wall 130 leading to a short feed tube 132extending partially into the interior of the tube 104. This tube 132 isutilized so as to minimize any opportunity for ink draining out of thetube 104 when the machine 10 is at rest. The wheel 100 may be turned soas to position the feed roller 82 so that this tube 132 extendsdownwardly in such a manner that nothing can drain through it. The tube132 also serves to prevent ink draining out of the tube 104 as themachine 10 is operated.

The machine also includes adjacent to the drum 22 but on the side of itremote from the cooling roller 30 and the take-up bar 32 adjacent to thecarriage 18 aligned bearings 134 which carries a first shaft section138. This section 138 carries a drive spur gear 140 which is adapted tomate with the gear 102 when the carriage 18 is moved to a runningposition. The shaft section 138 also includes a nonround socket 142which is adapted to receive a bar 144 corresponding to bar 32. The endof the bar 144 remote from the shaft section 138 fits into a plunger 145corresponding to the plunger 38 previously described. This plunger 146is mounted in one of the bearings 134 and is loaded by means of a spring148 bearing against one of the side plates 66 so that a head 150 of itis secured with respect to the bar 144.

With this construction when the carriage 18 is in a position as shown inFIG. 1 the bar 144 may be easily removed by pulling on the plunger 146so that a tube or core or spool containing ribbon to be reinked may belocated upon it. Once such a winding of ribbon is located on the bar 144this bar may be reinserted as shown. The end of such a ribbon may thenbe passed upwardly around the drum 22 and under the cooling roller 30where it can be attached to a core, spool or the like located upon thetake-up bar 32. The take-up bar 32 may be removed and replaced in thesame manner as the bar I144 so as to locate such a core upon it.

At this point the wheel 100 may be turned so as to uniformly distributeink. Next, during the use of the device the carriage 18 is moved fromthe position shown in FIG. 1 of the drawing to a running position asshown in FIG. 2. of the drawing. When it reaches such a running positionthe pin 70 will be locked by the holding detent 72 so as to secure it inplace. Also in this position the ribbon roller 86 will engage the ribbonbeing inked so as to force this ribbon out of a normal path as indicatedin FIG. 1 of the drawing in phantom to a position as indicated inphantom in FIG. 2. of the drawing. The movement of the carriage 18 willalso close the microswitch 74 so as to place the machine in conditionfor operation. Such movement will also cause the gears 140 and 102 tomate.

At this time the machine :10 is ready to operate. To achieve suchoperation an on-off switch 152 is closed. As shown in FIG. 5 of thedrawing this will cause current to flow in parallel to a conventionalthermostat 154 connected to the heating elements 24 and to flow to themotor 54. The operation of this motor will cause rotation of the take-upbar 32. Such rotation of the take-up bar 32 will cause the ribbon to bewound upon it from the bar 34 from the bar 144.

As this occurs several things happen. The bar 144 will be caused torotate. Rotation of the bar 144 will be transmited through the gear 140to the gear 102. This will cause rotation of the ink feed roller 82 sothat ink will move outwardly to the surface of the cylindrical pad 118.From this surface the ink will be transferred to the roller 88 sincethis roller 88 will operate by frictional contact with the roller 82.

As this occurs ink will be spread about by the roller 88 and will betransferred to the ribbon roller 86. This ribbon roller 86 will transferink to the ribbon being rejuvenated as it turns. Such a ribbon will tendto take up from the roller 86 approximately the amount of ink that itneeds to replace that which has been used from it. As this occurs theribbon roller 86 will turn past the spreading roller 88 where it willpick up additional ink to replace that which has been transferred to theribbon and where the ink upon it will be uniformly proportioned. Fromthis it will be apparent that the amount of ink transferred to a ribbonwill be dependent upon the nature and sizes of the various rollersdescribed. It will also vary with the speed at which a ribbon is moved.

The ribbon traveling past the ribbon roller 68 will move under tensionaround the drum 22. As this occurs the ribbon will, of course, be heatedand the heat from within the drum 22 and the tension applied to theribbon will tend to iron this ribbon as the ribbon passes in contactwith the curved surface of the drum 22. Such heat and tension will notonly tend to create an ironing etfect as the ribbon is treated asindicated. Such heat and tension will tend to cause stretched areas ofthe ribbon to shrink back into an initial, fiat configuration. This isparticularly pronounced when the ribbon being treated has a ribbon baseof a thermoplastic material such as a nylon or the like. In practicingthe invention it would appear that ribbons employing a ribbon base ofsuch thermoplastic materials have a memory of their initial flatconfiguration which is, so to speak, activated by the heat appliedduring this ironing operation. Shrinkage to other than this initial flatconfiguration is apparently prevented by the tension on the ribbon andthe contact with the drum 22.

As a ribbon being treated in the manner described travels past the drum22 the ink in the ribbon will be heated by the heat applied through thesurface of the drum 22. Such heat will reduce the viscosity of what maybe termed or considered as normal or conventional inks such as arenormally employed in ribbons as described and such as will normally beused in the apparatus 10. Such a decrease in viscosity will cause suchinks to flow and/ or move in the ribbon being treated in such a manneras to tend to cause a reasonably uniform ink distribution throughout theribbon and in such a manner as to tend to cause a reasonably eifectiveblending of both the ink already in the ribbon prior to its treatment,as herein described, and the ink applied as herein indicated.

Some ink or ink solvent may be vaporized by the heat utilized, but ingeneral the amount of volatile material lost will be so small as to benegligible. It is, however, possible to use the apparatus 10 with inkscontaining highly volatile solvents which will be vaporized to asignificant degree by the application of virtually any amount of heat.It is not considered desirable to utilize such highly volatile inks orinks containing highly volatile solvents in practicing the invention.Conventional inks such as are commonly utilized in linked businessmachine ribbons are satisfactory for use in practicing the process ofthe present invention.

The amount of heat applied to a ribbon by contact with the surface ofthe drum 22 should be sufiicient to cause any stretched thermoplasticmaterial in the ribbon to return to an initial fiat configuration andshould be sufficient to cause both the ink present in the ribbon andapplied to the ribbon to flow and to be distributed as described withoutthis ink being detrimentally damaging by the applied heat. It will berealized that it is the intention of the present invention that aneffective amount of heat be used to accomplish these objectives, whichamount is sufficiently low so as to avoid a detrimental effect on theink.

What will constitute an effective, non-detrimental amount of heat willvary in accordance with a large number of different perimeters. Ingeneral, the less volatile the inks or ink present the more heatrequired. In general, the higher the softening point of a thermoplasticpolymer in a ribbon the greater the heat required. In general, thegreater the length of time a given portion of ribbon is in contact withthe drum 22. the lesser the temperature required in the drum. Factors ofthis type will, of course, be apparent from a consideration of routinefactors applicable to the present invention. In general it is consideredthat satisfactory results can be achieved with the surface of the drumheated to within the range of from 200 to 350 F., but so many variablesare applicable to the present invention that this range is not to beconsidered as particularly significant or absolute.

A ribbon ironed as described will next move past the cooling roller 30.There it will be cooled so as to tend to fix the structure of thematerial within the ribbon rendered somewhat flexible by the heating atthe drum 22. This will also make the ink within the ribbon less mobile.The roller 30 should be cooled an effective amount to render the ink andother material in a ribbon approximately as stable or nonmobile as in acommon, new business machine ribbon at room temperature. Normally theentire ribbon will be cooled to ambient temperature. The precisetemperature of the cooling roller 30 necessary to accomplish this willbe dependent upon a number of factors such as are indicated in thepreceding discussion relative to heating a ribbon being processed. Ingeneral cooling water within the range of 32 to 50 F. may besatisfactorily used. This range is not to be regarded as being critical.Indeed, the roller 30 may be maintained at normal ambient temperature(72 F.) in which case, in effect, any ribbon treated is air cooled. Theribbon cooled in this manner will, during the operation of the machine,be taken up and wound upon the take-up bar 32. With the machine has beenoperated in this manner and the ribbon is nearly all wound on thetake-up bar 32 the tension on the ribbon will increase. This will causeor force to be exerted ribbon roller 86. As this tension increases theforce on the ribbon roller 86 will increase to a point where thecarriage 18 will be released by the detent 72, and will move. As thisoccurs the microswitch 74 Will be released, cutting off power to 54.This will stop the movement of the ribbon. Then the switch 152 is turnedoff and the ribbon located on the take-up bar 32 is removed from themachine.

From a careful consideration of the aforegoing it will be realized thatany ribbon treated as herein described will be under a considerableamount of tension as it is treated. In this connection the variousrollers on the carriage 18 in effect act as a friction brake. A furtherbraking action is achieved by virtue of the previously describedrotation of the cooling roller 30. With the structure shown this coolingroller 30 actually goes against the direction of ribbon travel. Thistension is considered quite desirable in stretching a ribbon being inkedso as to achieve a smooth appearance.

During the operation of thee machine some ink will normally tendtoadhere to the drum 22. This amount of ink is normally adequate to takecare of reinking a ribbon adjacent to its lead in end even though such aportion of a ribbon is not contacted by the ribbon roller 86. Ifdesired, however, the portion of a ribbon adjacent to its leading endmay be drawn by hand past the ribbon roller 86 as the ribbon is mountedin the machine 10 so as to apply ink to it.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of inking a previously inked thermoplastic business machineribbon from which ink has been removed from areas of the ribbon duringthe use of the ribbon and areas of which have been stretched from a flatconfiguration, which method comprises:

applying ink to a surface of said ribbon from an inked surface,

ironing the inked ribbon by the application of heat to said ribbon assaid ribbon is held under tension, in

contact with a surface, said heat being applied in an amount sufiicientto cause ink movement within said ribbon by decreasing the viscosity ofall ink within said ribbon through the application of said heat to saidribbon and in an amount sufiicient to cause said stretched areas of saidribbon to shrink back to said flat configuration, such ink movementwithin said ribbon tending to cause a uniform ink distributionthroughout said ribbon and said application of heat tending to causesaid ribbon to assume a smooth configuration as a result of contact withsaid surface as said ribbon is heated and cooling said ribbon to roomtemperature after said ironing.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein:

said ribbon is a nylon ribbon, and

said ribbon is cooled to room temperature following said ironing bybeing contacted with a cooling surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,079,229 5/1937 Schrauth 11736.1X 1,179,946 4/1916 Lewis 117-2 2,137,256 ll/1938 Waldron 11736.11,913,704 6/1933 Elkan 117-36.1 X 3,625,739 12/1971 Kaspar et a1.11765.2 2,064,360 12/1936 Schur 11765.2 1,396,403 11/1921 Buckley117-361 X 2,060,693 11/1936 Roniger 117--36.1 X 3,102,824 9/1963 Newmanl17-36.1 1,636,573 7/1927 Neidich 1172 X 2,747,542 5/1956 Nowicki et al.ll8259 X OTHER REFERENCES Mosher, Specialty Papers, pp. 356-360, 1950WILLIAM D. MARTIN, Primary Examiner H. J. GWINNELL, Assistant ExaminerUS. Cl. X.R. 117-7; 264-134

